Grounded in the powerful history of the grassroots struggle for voting rights, the Right to Vote Initiative of Advancement Project’s Power and Democracy Program is building a next-generation, pro-democracy movement to shore up the foundation of our democracy: the fundamental right of each eligible American to political participation. Through deep engagement and partnership with local grassroots organizations in communities of color, we seek to strengthen and defend the fundamental right to vote at the local, state, and federal levels.
Much of our current work focuses on the great stain in our democracy during this era of mass incarceration – the mass denial of civil life to those who have paid their debt to society or endured wrongful conviction and imprisonment. We invite you to learn about this work in Louisiana, Florida, and Virginia as well our National campaign and our long-time work defending the fundamental right to vote in Missouri.
Democracy Disappeared: How Florida Silences the Black Vote through Felony Disenfranchisement provides an unprecedented analysis of Black neighborhoods and Florida’s historic problem of felony disenfranchisement. In a neighborhood-level analysis, this report published by Advancement Project’s national office, shows that Florida’s formerly incarcerated residents overwhelmingly return to Black neighborhoods that have disparate levels of income, employment, […] Louisiana denies the right to vote to people behind bars. It also bars from voting 40,000 people who are convicted of a felony and sentenced to community probation, along with 30,000 who have returned to their communities on parole. Each year, thousands of people are removed from this list while thousands more take their place, as Louisiana has more police and prisons per capita than anywhere in the nation. The struggle to defend the right to vote continues in Missouri, one of the few states where courts have recognized that language in the state’s constitution confers a “fundamental right to vote.” In Florida, more than 1.5 million people – more than ten percent of the adult population – are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. Florida’s felon disenfranchisement laws and policies currently disenfranchise one in five African Americans. Over seven percent of Virginia’s adult population is not eligible to vote due to felony disenfranchisement. African Americans account for 53.3 percent of the disenfranchised population in Virginia, despite comprising only 19.4 percent of Virginia’s adult population. Since 2002, Advancement Project has been at the forefront of building a national right-to-vote movement.
Florida: “Democracy Disappeared”
Louisiana: “Unchaining The Vote”
Missouri: “#DontTouchMyVote”
Florida: “Say Yes To Second Chances”
Virginia: “Restoring Dignity and Power”
National: “Building a Next-Generation, Pro-Democracy Movement”